The
late Spencer Tracy, when asked about acting, is credited with saying:
Just know your lines and dont bump into the furniture.

James
MacArthurs ability to sidestep onstage props stems from very impressive
genes. His mother is first lady of the theater, Helen Hayes, his father
the late playwright-journalist, Charles MacArthur, co-author of The
Front Page and other scripts.

The
reddish-haired MacArthur is currently starring in The
Foreigner at Amarillos Country Squire Dinner Theater at Sunset
Marketown.

Although
he has appeared in numerous movies and theater productions, many of his
younger fans probably remember MacArthur best for his role of Detective
Dan Williams on the long-running television series Hawaii
5-0.

In
1968 Leonard Freeman, creator of the CBS show, called MacArthur to offer
him the part. For the next 11 years, the performer spent his working hours
responding to Book em, Dano.

In
fact, he still owns a home in Hawaii near Diamond Head as does his long
time co-star, Jack Lord.

Hawaii
5-0 was one of the first television shows to film on location. The
copycats of this different breed of cat were canceled one after another.

Those
in the business thought they could just shoot a show in Hawaii or the
Caribbean and attain instant popularity, MacArthur said. They
all went down in droves because just scenes of palm trees and beaches
can get pretty boring.

According
to MacArthur, the series never was intended to be a travelogue.

The
first year we actually did a lot of night shooting and the writers werent
even allowed on location.

The
actor believes part of the shows early success was due to its timing
with the Vietnam War.

It
was an hour of sanity with the good guys winning, a situation where the
world was right side up, MacArthur said.

He
left the show a year before its last season. His life since then has not
been spent totally as an actor.

One
of his special interests is traveling. MacArthurs travels have taken
him to Russia, China, Europe, Africa and swinging in a hammock down
the Amazon River in South America.

He
drove a Land Rover from London to Africa, camping across the Sahara Desert
and avoiding land mines from Idi Amins rule of Uganda.

A
friend of MacArthurs accompanied him on the trip and almost proved
to be trouble instead of help.

Amins
men were shooting on sight so we stayed clear of Uganda but after we left
Kenya, my friend said he was glad to get out of that country because he
was on Jomo Kenyattas death list, MacArthur said with a chuckle.
I said, Now you tell me.

MacArthur
has been at home on the stage since boyhood.

My
mother insisted that I have a normal upbringing, he said. I
had opportunities to be in stage productions during the school year that
she wouldnt let me do, but during the summer she gave her approval.

He
attended Harvard University with the goal of being an archeologist.

But
I found out that bones with flesh are more interesting than bones without.

He
created the part of John Boy in Spencers
Mountain which later became the hit television show The Waltons.

After
The Foreigner, MacArthurs next project will be a national
Broadway tour of Arsenic
and Old Lace.

He
has still another project which is pretty fresh off the drawing board,
so to speak. Father of two grown children, a son, 27, and daughter, 22,
MacArthur and his golf-pro wife -- H.B. Duntz -- are the parents of a
22 month-old boy.